Philwiki:Treat others with respect
Whatever you do on Philwiki, it is crucial that you make sure that you recognize the equal rights and privileges of all other contributors. The point of a wiki is to allow all people to make edits. No matter how new or how intelligent a person is, you must treat them as a peer or equal. All individuals are equal under the policies of Phiwiki. Even the administrators and bureaucrats, who have executive authority, are not above the policies and guidelines, especially the absolute authority of consensus. As a result, everyone has the same right to edit and debate, except in cases where editors have been found to have broken rules and been banned. Just as in life, you cannot go out as a vigilante and punish or harass other contributors. Report problems to the lead contributors and report vandalism. Show respect Please treat the other editors and their edits fairly. Don’t incite anger and try to help everyone else out. Respect other edits When other people edit articles, please make sure to consider changes that might not be exactly what you would have written. Quite possibly, they are have a different viewpoint on an issue. You certainly don’t have to agree with anyone on an issue, but you have to reach consensus. Remember, unless someone is clearly and intentionally violating content policies, their edits are not wrong, and the offender may simply be confused or new. Failing to respect edits is called an edit war (see below), when actions become brash and irrational. Respect other editors In discussions and on user pages, please be polite and respectful of editors, even if they have violate policies. Do not say anything hostile and do not bash editors behind their backs. Furthermore, do not conspire to bother or hinder other editors who have not been banned. Similarly, try to not bring conflicts into Philwiki from the outside. Please do not make enemies or cliques on Philwiki. Don’t bite newbies See also: Philwiki:Don’t bite newbies. Everyone was once a newbie, making their first edits and making plenty of mistakes. Help the noobs get used to the rules of Philwiki and coach them along in the process. There are recommended pre-made welcome messages to help first-timers. For people who have been to Philwiki more than once, but are still not fully informed, you should politely correct them to avoid greater hassles. When debate gets hot, stay cool During some instances of debate and revision, people can get very angry or passive-aggressive. While they are in the wrong, you should be sure to not follow their example. Bickering is totally unproductive and slanders and slurs are absolutely unacceptable. Just focus on the goal of improving Philwiki, and if you need to, politely remind other editors of the polices of Philwiki. If you find that you are getting out of control, consider taking a break. Stay away from Philwiki for an hour, a day, or a week, whatever you think you might need to cool down. Hopefully, this can help settle the matter and bring discussion back to reasonable debate. If contributors are not cooling down, not stepping away, or becoming problematic, please request arbitration. In that vein, administrators may hard ban individuals that frequently cause problems, at least temporarily to keep the peace. Edit wars Sometimes debates and editing do not stay cool and respectful. Once civility and decency these actions can be considered to be in violation of this policy. In this case, request arbitration, even if you only stumble into the war. Try to stay cool if you feel the need to intervene, and inform others, especially administrators about the problem, so that they can help. They may choose to lock the article. Three revert rule See also: Philwiki:Three revert rule. If changes keep being made to an article that other editors and then revert changes, administrators are expected to lock the page. If there is no administrator involved, then please contact one. The administrator will lock the article, until the fight can sufficiently cool down. No wikistalking An especially heinous case of an edit war is where editors develop personal grudges and begin to fight each other’s edits across Philwiki, in other articles, on user pages, and on talk pages. This is described as ‘’wikistalking’’ and is punishable by hard bans on the parties that are perpetrating the act. If you are wikistalked, please report it to the lead contributors. Often times, stalkers think that they are cleaning up vandalism or stopping a bad editor. However, they have an obligation to assume good faith and to report vandalism when it happens. Contributors patrolling for vandalism should remember to stay cool in discussions and help newbies on an edit bender. Category:Philwiki